A revamped Web site and two television commercials mark the beginning of a new marketing campaign for Arkansas Tech University.

Susie Nicholson, assistant to the president at ATU, showed both the commercials and new online features to members of the Board of Trustees at its regular meeting last week.

Nicholson said she is excited about Tech's newest approach to student recruiting and said the new approach has been long overdue.

"A couple of years ago, we did some market research to find out, in general, people's perception of Arkansas Tech," Nicholson said. "We surveyed people who had nothing to do with the university, and we surveyed people who had some contact with us.

"There were vast differences in perceptions. We figured out that once people had contact with us, their perception would change, especially if they visited campus."

Based on that research, Nicholson said, she and other administrators decided it was important to showcase the campus itself when promoting the university.

Television commercials and newspaper inserts were developed to show off Tech's facility improvements and the beauty of the campus, she said.

However, that approach, which worked well for a time, wasn't what Nicholson and other administrators wanted to focus on this time around.

"Now, in conjunction with a total revamping of our Web site, which really needed to be done, we've decided to be a little more targeted in our approach," Nicholson said. "Our focus is heavy on prospective students."

Five Tech students were selected to be interviewed, and their stories are available on the university Web site. Those students were asked such questions as why they chose ATU over other colleges and what their collegiate experience at Tech has been like.

Nicholson said a diverse group of students was chosen. The students have different classifications, different majors and are from different areas.

Their interviews were filmed, and two of the students, Brandon Atha and Ana Ruiz, were chosen to be featured on the television commercials. Other students whose stories appear online are Becky Lentz, Gina Parker and Scott Sellers.

Atha is a freshman mechanical engineering major from Fayetteville, while Ruiz is a sophomore pre-veterinary major from Chickalah. Lentz is a senior nursing major from Morrilton, and Parker, who was recently crowned ATU's homecoming queen, is a junior speech education major from Little Rock. Sellers is a sophomore from Squamish, British Columbia, Canada, who has not yet declared a major.

Nicholson said the plan is to follow each of the five students throughout the year, updating their stories twice in the fall and twice in the spring.

"We chose students because we wanted it to be real," Nicholson said. "There's not anything canned about [the interviews]. They're very real. It's coming from their hearts. We didn't put words into anybody's mouth."

The television commercials feature Atha and Ruiz talking about why they chose Tech. After their comments, viewers are encouraged to learn more about ATU by visiting the university's Web site.

"The whole idea of the TV advertising is to drive people to our Web site to see those stories," Nicholson said. "We want to give people a face to recognize that is a Tech student telling his story."

The updating and reformatting of the Web site has been a work in progress since February, Nicholson said.

"I think it's the most important marketing tool we have," Nicholson said. "We haven't been using it like we should. It began with an internal focus and has grown up that way. But we're hoping to change that.

"We want it to appeal to prospective students and to be user-friendly for our current students and faculty."

Nicholson said the television commercial is currently airing on several cable and network stations around the central and northwest parts of Arkansas.